Relegation in US Baseball – “What If in 2009…?”

Reading Sam’s piece on Introducing Promotion and Relegation to Professional Baseball prompted me to compile the combined 2009 final standings for Major League Baseball as well as all leagues at the Triple-A and Double-A level (see tables below).

In my imaginary new system, MLB would combine the National League and American League into one Baseball Premier League (BPL) comprising the current 30 major league teams.

The top eight BPL teams would have a playoff consisting of three rounds of seven-game series.  Seedings would be based on overall record (using run differential as a tie-breaker, if needed).  1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc., — higher seed hosting — culminating in a World Series.  This would be the same number of rounds in the current MLB playoffs.

In 2009, that would have produced the following BPL first-round matchups:

• (1) New York Yankees vs (8) San Francisco Giants
• (4) Boston Red Sox vs (5) Philadelphia Phillies
• (3) Los Angeles Dodgers vs (6) Colorado Rockies
• (2) Los Angeles Angels vs (7) St. Louis Cardinals

Possibilities include a Yankees-Red Sox matchup and an all-LA series in Round 2.

Note that last season’s AL-Central champs — the Minnesota Twins — would not have made the 2009 BPL playoffs.

The Triple-A Pacific Coast League and International League would combine to form a Baseball League 2 (BL2).  No longer would this tier be affiliated with major league (BPL) clubs.

The bottom three BPL teams would be relegated to the BL2.  Last year would have seen the Baltimore Orioles, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the woeful Washington Senators banished from the top league.

The top two BL2 teams would automatically get promoted to the BPL.  Last season this would have been the Sacramento River Cats and the Louisville Bats.

The next four teams in the BL2 standings would play a two-round series of seven games each, seeded by overall record, home field advantage going to the team with the better record.  Winner of this BL2 promotion playoff would move up to the BPL.

The Double-A Southern, Eastern, and Texas Leagues would combine to form a Baseball League 3 (BL3).  As with BL2, clubs from this level would not be affiliated with the BPL.

The bottom three BL2 teams would be relegated to the BL3.  Last year’s relegation victims from the BL2 would have been the Portland Beavers (on top of all the talk of the club leaving the city!), the Columbus Clippers, and the Buffalo Bisons.

The top two BL3 teams would automatically get promoted to the BL2.  Last season this would have been the Birmingham Barons and the Akron Aeros.

As with the BL2, the next four teams in the BL3 standings would play a two-round series of seven games each, seeded by overall record, home field advantage going to the team with the better record.  Winner of this BL3 promotion playoff would move up to the BL2.

The Single-A structure could still be used by the upper three leagues as a farm system.

As Sam says, the prospect of relegation keeps fans of poor performing teams interested (albeit not happily!) while allowing for a “natural order” of the better teams rising to the higher leagues (and more money) and worse teams being demoted due to lack of performance.

Lots of current baseball tradition would have to be sacrificed, and stadium rules and scheduling would be a challenge, but the competition could be as intriguing as the Barclays English Premier League!